Avalanche Cartography: Visualization of Dynamic-Temporal Phenomena in a Mountainous Environment

Avalanches represent a very short, local, dynamic event in snow-covered mountainous regions. They are not easy to predict and often can produce devastating results. Avalanche cartography deals with the causes and consequences of such incidents and attempts to depict them in a variety of ways. The mo...

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Published inCartographica Vol. 38; no. 1-2; pp. 77 - 87
Main Author KRIZ, KAREL
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published University of Toronto Press 2001
Subjects
Avalanches
Cartography
Catchment areas
Hydrography
Mapping
Technology
Topographic mapping
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Abstract Avalanches represent a very short, local, dynamic event in snow-covered mountainous regions. They are not easy to predict and often can produce devastating results. Avalanche cartography deals with the causes and consequences of such incidents and attempts to depict them in a variety of ways. The most common cartographic representation within this field is the avalanche hazard map. It incorporates mainly large-scale topographic elements with thematic features. However, besides just visualizing what has happened and depicting locations of potential risk, it is now possible within modern cartography to experiment with different approaches and to visualize complex variables in a cartographically demanding way. This paper deals with the phenomena of avalanches from a cartographic perspective and shows the variety of possibilities cartography can offer today to understand and predict these complex natural hazards.
AbstractList The art of simplifying real-world three-dimensional space into a spatial model without omitting essential features still remains an important, albeit tricky, task for cartographers. Thus a map can be considered as a model of reality. Large-scale topographic maps are well suited for showing terrain-specific parameters that influence and interact with avalanches. Slope and aspect, the major topographic features most often used to predict avalanche occurrence, can be derived easily from topographic maps. The features that characterize recurring avalanche events - catchment areas, avalanche tracks, areas of avalanches, and danger zones - can also be locally delineated on topographic maps. The representation of these features is strictly dependent on the map scale and the extent of generalization. All delimitations on maps, including areas of avalanche risk, are to a certain extent inexact and bear the burden of uncertainty, and therefore must be interpreted accordingly. The various meteorological factors are much more difficult for cartographers and avalanche researchers to comprehend. These complex, variable, and dynamic factors defy easy visualization. Moreover, meteorological factors lack unique spatial connectivity and, as a result of their variability and temporal character, can be only incompletely portrayed with conventional (static) cartographic tools. In order to depict avalanche-related phenomena accurately and meaningfully, it is essential to understand the various visualization methods as well as base-map information available to cartographers. A common form of presenting relevant avalanche information is the printed map, most often combining a large-scale topographic base with specific thematic information, such as avalanche paths, potential hazard areas, and event chronology. Terrain information on maps consists mainly of contour lines, hydrography, land cover (including, in some cases, rock depiction and hill shading), and infrastructure. The detail as well as accuracy of avalanche maps is dependent primarily on scale. Commonly used scales range from 1:1000-1:10,000 (cadastral maps), to 1:25,000-1:50,000 (classical topographic maps), down to 1:100,000 or smaller (regional overviews). Other common base maps used for mapping avalanches at large scales include orthophotos and satellite images, which show a high amount of detail but suffer from a lack of generalization. Until now, avalanche hazard mapping has been mainly achieved using large-scale printed maps to represent static as well as dynamic features. The principal goal has been to depict potential areas of risk or areas subject to past hazard occurrences. Employing a broad spectrum of cartographic symbolization on these maps has made it possible to visualize the dynamic characteristics of avalanches and their causes. Qualitative and quantitative line symbols and arrows are the most common forms of representation. However, printed static maps very quickly reach their limits when temporal dynamic events need to be depicted. As an alternative, map-related representations, such as animation or virtual reality, can be used, provided that the topographic and thematic base information is of sufficiently high quality. Animations can show the temporal dynamic characteristics of avalanches from an optimal viewpoint selected by the cartographer. This can either be a map-like orthogonal viewpoint (from directly above) or the multifacets of an oblique view that yields a perspective three-dimensional scene. Adding interactivity to an animation allows the user to customize the cartographic presentation. In its most fully developed form, interactivity delivers an immersive virtual reality environment. No longer merely a detached observer, the user instead becomes an integral part of the representation and can interact with it from within.
Avalanches represent a very short, local, dynamic event in snow-covered mountainous regions. They are not easy to predict and often can produce devastating results. Avalanche cartography deals with the causes and consequences of such incidents and attempts to depict them in a variety of ways. The most common cartographic representation within this field is the avalanche hazard map. It incorporates mainly large-scale topographic elements with thematic features. However, besides just visualizing what has happened and depicting locations of potential risk, it is now possible within modern cartography to experiment with different approaches and to visualize complex variables in a cartographically demanding way. This paper deals with the phenomena of avalanches from a cartographic perspective and shows the variety of possibilities cartography can offer today to understand and predict these complex natural hazards.
Author KRIZ, KAREL
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Snippet Avalanches represent a very short, local, dynamic event in snow-covered mountainous regions. They are not easy to predict and often can produce devastating...
The art of simplifying real-world three-dimensional space into a spatial model without omitting essential features still remains an important, albeit tricky,...
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SubjectTerms Avalanches
Cartography
Catchment areas
Hydrography
Mapping
Technology
Topographic mapping
Title Avalanche Cartography: Visualization of Dynamic-Temporal Phenomena in a Mountainous Environment
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Volume 38
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